IDEAS

 One revolutionary idea will change your life or organization forever”

Ideas are some of the most powerful things in the universe. Civilizations owe their birth and advancements to ideas. 

The force deployed by an emerging civilization to topple an older one is ideas. Nations are born; they mature and accomplish great things through the unquantifiable power of ideas. Industries, Institutions, Organizations, Businesses, Charities etc. come into being and go on to excel beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations through the profound power of ideas. 

Individuals re-invent themselves, re-write their stories, change their destiny, prove doubter and cynics wrong; (those who have said “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? ) through the incredible power of ideas.

All human progress in the last several thousand years all owe their existence to ideas. As a matter of fact, once ideas stop flowing, stop being birthed and pursued by men, human progress comes to a thundering stop. Civilizations shrivel, and die. 

Nations stumble and fade away. Industries, Institutions, Organization, Businesses, Charities etc, whither and perish. Individuals stagger, fall and pass into oblivion. 

They can no longer answer the beckoning hand of destiny. Progress, advancement, achievement dither and die. Man comes to a complete standstill.

IDEAS RULE THE WORLD

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HISTORY AND IDEAS

HISTORY AND IDEAS

MONEY

Let us start with the evolution of money. Initially, man transacted business through trade by barter. But it was a very cumbersome means of doing business. There was the challenge of determining the value of the item you are giving to me viz-a-viz the value of my own product that you are taking in exchange. There was also the problem of whether I needed what you had to exchange for what was in my hand.
So ideas came to the rescue. Somebody somewhere came up with the idea of using commodities like Cowries, Seashells, Beads, Gems, Silver and Gold. These commodities’ arrival as a means of money for business transaction solved the problems of barter mentioned above.
This new “Money” was okay for transactions in a small geographical area like a village or small town. But once merchants started travelling over a hundred miles or more to do business it’s limitation was exposed! What if a merchant travelling with ten camels or donkeys laden with silver or gold is ambushed by robbers and robbed? That jeopardizes not only the merchant’s personal business, but the trade business as a whole. So, there comes another smart idea to the rescue.
Local bankers emerged who issued what is called receipt money to the merchant. All the merchant needed to travel with was a piece of paper which showed he had the value written on it stored for safekeeping with his local banker. He would carry out his transactions with the receipt and the local banker in the far away land he has travelled to will reconcile/adjust accounts with the merchant’s local banker back at home. How beautiful ideas are!
While this system suited the travelling merchant going to a far country, the generality of people who still carried out transactions mostly through the aforementioned commodities were getting tired of carrying weighty items around to consummate transactions. Man’s “saving” grace was another idea.
The idea of printed currency which was light and easy to carry solved other problems too by having a fixed and easily determined value and being universal as far as that particular country is concerned.

But then other problem arose as the global economy became more sophisticated and complex. No matter how light paper currency is, how does one move Ten Billion Naira from Abuja to Lagos? Or how will a Nigerian businessman make a $500million payment in America with paper currency. 

Ideas evolved again and today the banking system operates sophisticated money transfer mechanisms where billions of dollars are transferred from one point to another simply by the push of a button in some office thousands of kilometers away.

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HOW TO GET INSPIRED IDEAS

(I) God has given us sound minds (II Timothy 1:7) you need to put your mind to work. Let it explore and search out inspired ideas that can change your life, business, organization, career, home, etc. Your mind is sufficiently equipped by God to fashion out creative and revolutionary ideas that can help you surmount the most difficult of life’s challenges. But it will not except you cure it of mental laziness, and get it to work and deliver ideas.
(II) You need to screen your ideas. Can it stand the test of implementation? Is it an idea of the past, present or future? You need to research your ideas and make thorough investigations. Ask questions until you are sure they are worthwhile ideas.

(III) You must protect ideas. Premature exposure of ideas or exposure of ideas to wrong people can kill your golden ideas. Or ideas thieves can steal and ruin your ideas. Learn to be circumspect and wise when handling, screening, researching, pursuing and implementing your ideas.
(IV) You must implement worthwhile ideas. The ultimate of ideas is implementation, not endlessly fantasizing with them or bragging about your great ideas. Get to work. Like Theodore Roosevelt said, “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by sweat and dust and blood…” Get into the arena and be counted.

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SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH IDEAS

Seemingly intractable personal and organizational problems can be solved through inspiring ideas.
About sixty years ago, a young pastor in his twenties was sent to California to start a church by his denominational Headquarters. He (Robert Schuler) later became the very successful and world famous motivational speaker and pastor of the Chrystal Cathedral – all ALL GLASS building that was built earthquake proof in one of the most earthquake prone areas of the world.
But before taking off for California, he had phoned a church official in California asking to help get a hall where he could start services. The church official’s reply was that there was absolutely no available hall in his target city where he could start church services. Robert Schuler said such absolute negativism sounded like the most irresponsible statement he had ever heard. 

He wisely ignored the church official. On his way to California, he stopped over at a café and decided to write down ten possible venues/halls to start church services. That was it. Revolutionary ideas started to flow. He wrote down some unthinkable places to start a church. Eventually, he started his new church at a Drive-in theatre which the negative and cynical church official labeled a “Passion pit”.
But the passion pit was the beginning of a church that would eventually be known all over the world. Oh, the power of ideas.

 If you recollect, Jimoh Ibrahim having conceived the bright idea of organizing seminars for local governments on taxation, encountered a seeming insurmountable mountain. He had no money to post letters to several hundreds of local government offices around Nigeria. But an inspired idea came to his rescue. It suddenly dawned on him that all states in Nigeria had a liaison office in Lagos, Nigeria’s Industrial, commercial, financial and entertainment capital. Pronto, he handed his letters to the liaison offices for onward distribution to the local government offices. Fortunately for him, most of the liaison offices were located in the same part of the city of Lagos.

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STORIES OF MEN WHO CHANGED THEIR DESTINIES THROUGH IDEAS.

I want to share the personal stories of three people whom I know very well as was related to me by them. I will not disclose their names here because I do not have their permission to reveal their identities in a public write up like this. I want to assure you, these stories are not fiction; they related their stories to me without even asking them. 

One of them passed on recently as an elder citizen. Let me start with his story: he shared his story to inspire me as we rode together in his car decades ago when I was still an undergraduate. In fact, things were very rough for me then and it was he who gave me money for my final year project in the university when I was almost stranded. He was a civil servant with the Kwara State Civil Service and did not like the economic prospects of the job. As he sought for a way out, an idea hit him and changed his life and destiny forever. 

He dared to pursue the idea by submitting a proposal to the ministry of agriculture to supply agricultural tractors to the ministry. The ministry was advised to sell them to farmers’ cooperatives on hire purchase.
Farmers’ cooperative groups will pay instalmentally, share the use of the tractor on an agreed basis and multiply food production in the State. But he had no money or sponsor or partner to back the purchase of the tractors. Earlier, even before the proposal, he had visited a major dealer in tractors in Ibadan and secured an agreement to purchase several tractors from them on credit. They obliged because of the volume involved – probably the number of tractors they sold in a whole year. Well, long story short, he supplied the tractors, collected his money later on, made payment to his suppliers in Ibadan and became a multi-millionaire.

The second, a friend, had his life turned around through an inspired idea. He had an idea to join the major club in his city then and subsequently have a platform to interact with successful people. As he interacted with successful people there, he observed that they were very keen about properties and were always talking about buying properties. The second part of his idea made him transform himself quickly into a property consultant. He hit the road looking for good properties for sale at good prices and sold many to his rich club mates. His life and story changed permanently. As I write this piece, he is one of the most successful property owners in that city and a former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The third is a friend in Lagos where I live. His business had been going through some challenges when he got a life changing idea that took his business to another level. His idea made him the linkman/facilitator between the owners of some prime but undeveloped land in Lagos and the financiers of a brand new prime estate. He conceptualized an estate, convinced the owners of the prime land to give their land, persuaded mortgage bankers to finance the project, and successfully brought a new prime estate to reality. His pay off was several properties in the choice estate which turned everything around. He has used that as a foundation to launch into several other areas of business amongst which are Telecommunications and Hospitality.

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BISI OLATILO : MEN WHO RAISED HISTORY CHANGING BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF IDEAS.

BISI OLATILO

If Dele Momodu pioneered the print version of the all picture, social and event diary on the continent. Bisis Olatilo pioneered the television version popularly known as the BISI OLATILO SHOW. The magic of Bisi Olatilo’s idea just as in Dele Momodu’s is that it did not only birth a business. It gave birth to an industry! 

Today, countless such shows grace television screens across the continent by people inspired by the Bisi Olatilo’s idea, effectively spawning a new industry and providing economic livelihood for thousands.

OTUNBA ‘GADAFFI’

Nigeria’s urban centres (particularly Lagos) like urban centres in many third world countries lack adequate public toilets. Answering the call of nature was a nightmare for many individuals and the attendant challenge of public sanitary health was a nightmare for governments. That was until the late Otunba Gadaffi gave Nigeria a gift of Mobile Public Toilets. Today, his mobile public toilets are ubiquitous in public places, social events grounds, religious or political gatherings etc, around the country particularly it’s most populated city, Lagos. While solving a major challenge that politicians and administrators were hitherto unable to solve, he also clearly solved his own personal economic issues by building a massive business and factory around his revolutionary idea – D. M. T. Mobile Toilets.

HENRY FORD

At age 40, Henry Ford was still an ordinary factory hand who earned daily wages. But the power of idea not only changed his life but also changed the world forever. Henry Ford did not like the reality of the automobile of his days. He did not like the fact that only a few super rich could afford a car. 

Henry Ford’s great contribution to the automobile industry and by extension the entire manufacturing industry as a whole was his idea of mass manufacturing through an industrial assembly line that makes cars and other products today easily affordable to the average middle class family around the world. Thus the modern assembly line where different persons added different pre-fabricated parts to the car as it passed through the assembly line was born.
Ford also introduced the unthinkable idea in his days of giving workers two days off every week. 

Prior to Ford’s radical idea, workers only took one day – Sundays off. But Ford believed workers will be more productive if they had two days off. That was the beginning of what workers enjoy today; having Saturdays and Sundays off. This idea has not only multiplied productivity globally, it has also made life better for over a billion people all over the world.

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DELE MOMODU : MEN WHO RAISED HISTORY CHANGING BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF IDEAS

DELE MOMODU AND OVATION

Dele Momodu was a young, upwardly mobile and fast rising Nigeria journalist until the Nigeria military junta annulled the 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief M. K. O. Abiola. He threw himself headlong into the battle to reclaim that mandate and expectedly became hunted by the military government of the late General Abacha. Thereafter he became one of many fighters for liberty who were forced into exile.  

In exile, things were tough and rough until the power of idea surged in his mind and he gave Africa its first all picture, social and event magazine OVATION.

This novel idea – at least as far as the continent of Africa was concerned became a hit and a runaway leader in that segment of the magazine industry till today.

It did not only end his personal economic struggle, but it spawned an entirely new ‘Industry’ with countless entrepreneurs copying his idea, floating their own variants and providing employment for many.

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JIMOH IBRAHIM : MEN WHO RAISED HISTORY CHANGING BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF IDEAS.

JIMOH IBRAHIM 

Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim’s rise from rags to riches is as intriguing as any story of its kind. His father was a poor, uneducated carpenter while his mother was a poor, uneducated petty trader. He struggled through university in circumstance of great deprivation. But all that changed when the bright light of idea turn on in his mind during his youth service year.

 (In Nigeria, all University graduates observe a one year mandatory service to the nation under the auspices of the national Youth Service Corp).  

Jimoh Ibrahim came up with the idea of organizing training seminars for local governments in the area of taxation. It was a novel idea. Something nobody had ever done in the country before. He wrote letters to ALL the local governments in Nigeria but had a problem. There was no money to post them! Another idea came to the rescue. He realized that all the states had liaison offices in Lagos. He took the letters to the State Liaison offices for onward distribution to the local government offices around the country. (Fortunately for him, most of the liaison offices in Lagos are located in the same area, so his transport cost was drastically reduced).

He made millions of naira in the very first seminar, conducted several more during the years, made tens of millions of naira, diversified into property and oil and gas and today leads one of Nigeria’s largest business conglomerates with footprints in almost all sectors of the economy. 

The three group of companies under his canopy –global fleet group. NICON Group and Energy Group with their tens of businesses bear testament to the fact that he has become an octopus and reference point in the African economy.

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WINNING IN LIFE: CREATING YOUR DESIRED WORLD THROUGH IDEAS (III)

I want to begin this part of the article – creating your desired world through ideas with an extract from an earlier part of the article. “All human progress in the last several thousand years all owe their existence to ideas. As a matter of fact, once idea sops flowing, stop being birthed and pursued by men, human progress comes to a thundering stop. Civilizations shrivel and die. Nations stumble and fade away. Industries, Institutions, Organization, Businesses, Charities etc  wither and perish. Individuals stagger, fall and pass into oblivion. They can no longer answer the beckoning hand of destiny. Progress, advancement, achievement dither and die. Man comes to a complete standstill.”

The above quote from an earlier part of this article aptly captures the essence and importance of ideas in human progress and advancement. In addition, we also looked at HISTORY AND IDEAS. 

We looked at the history defining roles played by ideas in the evolution of money, democracy and free market economy. Coca-Cola, radio, telephones, the light bulb, automobiles, the industrial assembly line, the aeroplane, the worldwide web and the internet.

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THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AND THE AEROPLANE

The great TIMES magazine had rebuffed the silly idea of a machine that could fly in the sky.  

They had said it was not possible. 

IT WAS POSSIBLE

But thank God Wilbur and Orville Wright, the bicycle mechanics that ‘taught the world to fly’ according to the 5th edition of CHAMPIONS Destiny Force magazine refused to listen to them or any other person for that matter. They  had conceived the idea of a flying machine and that idea they will pursue. 

Thankfully, the silly idea proved to be wise after all. Today, mankind continue to be indebted to these idea brothers who forever made the world a much smaller place.

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THE WORLDWIDE WEB AND THE INTERNET

The power of ideas kept moving the world to new and greater heights. And in 1989, Tim Burners-lee gave the world one of its most beautiful gifts ever – the worldwide web. Through this hitherto unthinkable idea, 

Burners-lee shrunk the size of the world not only to an acclaimed global village; but virtually put the globe and all its nations into the palm of your hands. What a truly unthinkable idea!
Well, unfortunately we have to bring this part of the write-up to an end here. 

In the continuation, we will be looking at men from beyond the Nigeria shores and within the Nigerian shores who raised history changing business and organizations through the incredible power of ideas. We will be looking at how seemingly intractable personal and organizational problems can be solved through great ideas, how to get inspired ideas, how to screen and protect your ideas, and finally how to turn you ideas into successful commercial products or even an industry.

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HENRY FORD AND THE INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLY LINE

Another man in history, whose life and times provides another full proof evidence of the power of ideas was Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors. While Henry Ford was not the only one credited with the invention of the automobile, he was undoubtedly the father of the modern industrial assembly line.
In those days, cars were only for the super rich. 

One of the reasons behind this was the fact that they were produced manually, laboriously one by one – that is one at a time. But Henry Ford never liked that idea. His novel idea was that cars should be available for the average family. The only way this will work out is if it is mass produced, thus considerably bringing down the unit price. 

Ford pursued this novel idea by coming up with the assembly line where different persons added different parts to the car as it passed through the assembly line until a full car emerged at the end of the assembly line. Thanks for Ford’s idea, the world is flooded today with relatively cheap cars for most middle class families around the world.
Cars were produced at a much faster rate and become affordable to many people. Ford was a man of ideas who added so much value to the world through his radical ideas. 

Unfortunately, space will not allow us to discuss some of his other ground breaking ideas.

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RADIO, TELEPHONE, TELEVISION AND THE LIGHT BULB

“One revolutionary idea will change your life or organization forever”.

At a time, the idea of transmitting sound through Radio or the Telephone was considered preposterous. The talk of transmitting moving images through television was seen as farfetched. But some men conceived the ideas of doing these seemingly preposterous and farfetched things. 

Today. Humanity takes of these blessings for granted not realizing that they were not only revolutionary ideas but also ground breaking ideas when they were conceived.
To most people in those generations, they were “impossible” ideas. But the trio of Thomas Edison (Radio and light bulb), Graham Bell (Telephone) and John I. Baid (Television) made the impossible possible. Perhaps, man will still be saddled with carrying lamps around today had Thomas Edison that great inventor not conceived the idea of perfecting the light bulb.
After thousand of experiments, trials and seeming failure, the cynics who said it could not be done seemed to have been proven right. But Edison dug in, he persisted in his belief that the idea was feasible; and in the end, man was better for it.

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COCA-COLA AND IDEAS

COCACOLA AND THE IDEA

The recipe for coca-cola was invented by a middle aged American doctor who lacked the power of ideas needed to turn this recipe into a successful commercial product. But then, a young country store clerk was imaginative enough to believe he could succeed where a much older and more educated doctor had failed. Pronto, this young clerk – Asa Chandler emptied his entire life savings which wasn’t much by the way into the hands of the frustrated doctor in exchange for the greatest recipe the world had even known! How really, really tragic for the doctor. How exceptionally great for Asa Chandler.
By and large, coca-cola evolved from one idea to another until at a time it became the world’s most valuable company. From selling coke in fixed locations from taps dispensing coke to customers, to movable large containers that made the product more mobile, to small bottles, cans, plastics and several variants of coke, this “golden product” has penetrated markets in almost all nations of the world.

If there truly is an idea company, coca-cola is that company. Many other great products that became market leaders over the centuries, decades, years have been dethroned permanently; some have passed to the “great beyond” (died). 

That coca-cola has maintained global leadership in is field for over a century is one of the greatest testaments to the indescribable power of ideas.

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DEMOCRACY AND FREE MARKET ECONOMY

America bequeathed liberal democracy to the world which was a tremendous improvement over the form of democracy Britain gave the world. The ideas of equality before the law, rule of law, universal human right, freedom and complete free market economy flowed from that legacy. Thus, in both the political and economic spheres, men of revolutionary ideas like Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues gave new thinking to the world. 

It’s no accident that their country became the greatest and richest country in the World through these revolutionary ideas. Oh, how awesome is the power of ideas.

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